Well, it is very unlikely that I will wait until midnight, but it's good to know that if I am awake at 4am (sadly, not too unusual) the book will likely be there! I have a book I am dying for and the day off tomorrow, but also have the kids at home and a to-do list the length of my arm.

Ooh, that sounds like a recipe for frustration. I hope you get some good reading time in!

So, if a book is released on Kindle on a certain date, like, tomorrow, at what time is the book likely to be available to me?

Midnight tonight. It will become available for you to download at midnight.

Signed, the girl who had to leave her Kindle in the other room so she didn't stay up all night reading Prince Lestat the instant it downloaded at 12:01AM.

So Molly Gloss has a new novel out, it's called Falling From Horses and it's about stunt riders in old Hollywood.

Molly Gloss is desperately underappreciated and if you need a book that reassures you that there is beauty in the world, and people can be good and worthy, and a difficult life can be full of meaning, then you should read some Molly Gloss. Especially The Hearts of Horses or The Dazzle of Day. She's so good.

Are there Robin Hobb fans here? Cooking the Books interview, yonder: [link]

Elementary, my dear Watson: U.S. court rejects Sherlock Holmes dispute

(Reuters) - The case of the disputed Sherlock Holmes copyright is hereby closed after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact a ruling that said 50 works featuring the famed fictional detective are in the public domain.

The high court's justices, which like the eccentric detective get to decide which cases to tackle, declined to hear an appeal filed by the estate of author Arthur Conan Doyle, who died in 1930.

The proper response to this is "duh," but I haven't been able to find out what the estate of Doyle's argument was for saying it still deserves royalties for Doyle's works. (Actually they claimed writers using the characters owed them a "license fee.") Anyone know? Or was this just an attempt to get $ while hoping no one would take them to court?

Is this "license fee" crap for stuff in the public domain common?

Considering the amount of money Sherlock Holmes generates, I don't blame the Doyle family for wanting some of it. I never though about who owned the character, but if he's public domain that explains all the recent shows.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., has managed to keep its hot, sticky hands on Tarzan and John Carter since 1923, in part by trademarking the characters. You can trademark a character that is sufficiently distinctive.

I'm surprised the Doyle estate didn't do that.

You can trademark a character that is sufficiently distinctive.

Ah. That explains it. So Sherlock Holmes isn't distinctive enough, I guess.